You have probably seen some odd images of cats in space that look like photographs like the one on the right, but you know they are not photos.
DALL-E 2 and Midjourney generate images from text. Both have the same idea. It is pretty simple to make an image of “a sunlit indoor lounge area with a pool with clear water and another pool with translucent pastel pink water, next to a big window, digital art.” by just writing it. Of course, you might ask why. The answer is because I can!
DALL-E 2 is in the beta stage, and you must sign up for a waiting list. For me, it took two weeks to get access. Midjourney is easier to start. I got access immindialtely.
What does it mean to photography or graphic design?
In my video about DALL-E 2, I talked about this. Most likely, this will kill stock photography. AI can generate an image much faster and easier than someone photographing it. Not to mention sketches, storyboards, etc.
The skill set that a graphic designer needs will also change. The best ones in the future are the ones that have the best writing skills. You would think that it is easy to come up with the text to write to DALL-E 2 or Midjourney, but it requires a lot of imagination and writing skills to come up with a creative explanation.
An in-house blogger in a company does not need a photographer or someone from the design team to make illustrations or photos for a blog post. The writer writes a descriptive text, and AI will generate the image! Easy and convenient! AI image generators will affect photographers’ and graphic designers’ income.
In the future AI image generator will be a built-in feature in blogging platforms. AI will automatically suggest images based on the content. No more searching for images from stock photo pages or thinking about how to make that images for the blog post. What a time saver! In the future AI image generator will be a built-in feature in blogging platforms. AI will automatically suggest images based on the content.
These automated image generations can also be applied to social media. It is a fact that social media posts that have an image get more traction. Why not let the AI generate an image automatically?
Is it all good?
Of course not! Every technological innovation has its downside. It can be misused.
When AI image generators generate a face of a celebrity and, the image is used in an ad. Someone might place some in a place that is not proper etc. Of course, all this can be done now, but AI makes it much easier and will be accessible to more people. “Everybody” can do it.
What we need are algorithms that can detect AI-generated images. It will be harder to see “fake” photos. The problem might occur when AI gets better and better.
What should photographers do?
If you are a stock photographer, rethink your business model. Stock photography will die for good.
If you are in advertisement photography, some of your work will disappear. Start thinking about what value You can give the customer. What makes your images unique so that AI won’t replace you?
What next?
The first thing is, of course, the image quality improvements. The next step is something similar to a video. I know that at least Runway is working on something for the video. The thing that I saw was awesome!
More about AI Image generators in my video.
My video about AI image generators contains more of my thoughts and some sample images. You might want to watch it.